HC warns judges against naming sex crime victims

The High Court of Himachal Pradesh has slammed its subordinate courts for failing to maintain anonymity of sex crime victims in their judgments and warned against repeating it,lest it might affect their judicial career.

Dealing with an appeal filed by a convict in an alleged rape case,single bench headed by Justice Surinder Singh reminded the trial courts in Himachal Pradesh about the Supreme Court observations not to mention the name of rape victims in the judgment,and as far as possible throughout the trial in order to save further embarrassment to the victim of sex crime.

While setting aside the conviction of the accused Joginder Singh—who was also sentenced to seven-year rigorous imprisonment for alleged rape —the high court directed the registrar general to send a circular to all the judges in the local judiciary to strictly follow the apex court directions.